Have you recently had the opportunity to debate with someone, your
teenage children perhaps, the issue of solid waste disposal and the role
of plastics in solid waste disposal solutions? It would be my guess that
the experience was at least challenging. My personal experience is based
on having some knowledge and realizing there is a lot that I do not
understand.

The paramount objective is to protect the environment for future
generations. It seems clear that there has to be a common basis for
environmentalists, educators, industrialists, legislators, and the
general public to reach that objective. The common basis is going to be
found through gathering knowledge from these factions. The basis of
knowledge is understanding the past (yesterday), understanding the
present (today), and understanding the possibilities of the future
(tomorrow). Knowledge of the past will tell us of the mistakes and the
successes; knowledge of the present will define the base from which we
have to change; and knowledge of the possibilities of the future will
define the corrective actions to be taken.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has detailed four
scenarios for dealing with solid waste. The first is source reduction;
the second is recycling; the third is incineration; and the fourth is
landfill. It should be noted that plastics has been a champion of source
reduction versus alternative materials. Regarding recycling plastics,
the industry must make major improvements in educating plastics and
nonplastics professionals; the question is how. Incineration is a
natural for plastics, because the source of all plastics is energy.
Finally, in landfills (society's answer to solid waste problems
since the beginning of time), plastics play a primary role in the
technology of landfill containment and sterilization. Degradability is
the most misunderstood and misused solution for coping with solid waste.
Yet degradability probably has a place as an alternate solution for
reducing yard wastes from our landfills. For example, a degradable
plastic bag could be a benefit to a municipal-compost system. And,
perhaps, the most significant solution is the changing of our personal
habits. The way we handle the disposal of personal waste will have to
change. The days of "out of sight, out of mind" are coming to
an end. The problem is, how do we change?

ANTEC 1990 in Dallas, Texas, is dedicating Thursday afternoon, May
10, and Friday morning, May 11, to increasing our knowledge of
plastics' role in the issue of solid-waste disposal and our
understanding of how and what we must change. SPI's Council for
Solid Waste Solutions (CSWS) has agreed to participate in the two
half-day programs. Jean Statler, from the CSWS, and Norman Lee, from
Zarn, Inc., and SPE have developed an excellent program. Keep in mind
that this program is in addition to the full complement of technical
sessions to be held Monday through Thursday. The focus of Tuesday's
management involvement program is feedstocks.

The General Operating Committee has worked very hard to make this
an outstanding ANTEC. The activities begin Sunday night and end at noon
on Friday. For those of you who have not experienced Texas hospitality,
you are in for a treat; and for those of you who have experienced Texas
hospitality, the 1990 ANTEC will be more of the same.

COPYRIGHT 1990 Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.